Vamana Purana — Prahlada's Pilgrimage, Shloka 32

Prahlada’s Pilgrimage and the Origin of the Sudarshana–Trishula Exchange (Jalodbhava Episode)

Devanagari script

सप्तजन्मकृतं पापं कुलसंगागतं च यत् पितृमातृसमुत्थं च तत्सर्वं हन्ति केशवः

Transliteration

saptajanmakṛtaṃ pāpaṃ kulasaṃgāgataṃ ca yat pitṛmātṛsamutthaṃ ca tatsarvaṃ hanti keśavaḥ

Translation

केशव ते सर्व नष्ट करतात—सात जन्मांत केलेले पाप, कुलपरंपरेतून आलेले पाप, तसेच पितृ-मातृपासून उद्भवलेले पाप।

Speakers

• Rishi-narrator to Devarṣi (likely Nārada)
• concluding the promise of the vrata’s purificatory power

Primary Deities

• Vishnu (Keśava)

Key Themes

• Karmic purification across lifetimes
• Lineage/ancestral burden (kula-doṣa)
• Grace of Vishnu (Keśava)
• Vrata as expiation (prāyaścitta-like efficacy)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Flavour)

{ "primaryRasa": "shanta", "secondaryRasa": "karuna", "rasaIntensity": 0, "emotionalArcPosition": "", "moodDescriptors": [] }

FAQs

What does “seven births” signify in Purāṇic idiom?

It is a conventional measure for deep karmic accumulation—suggesting long-standing, entrenched demerit rather than only recent wrongdoing. The verse asserts the observance’s reach into multi-life karmic residues.

How should “sins from lineage” and “from father and mother” be understood?

It points to kula-doṣa: burdens tied to family patterns, unresolved obligations, or inherited ritual/ethical lapses. The text frames devotion to Keśava as capable of dissolving even these socially and genealogically embedded impurities.

Is Keśava’s destruction of sin automatic, or dependent on proper observance?

Within vrata literature, the promise presumes sincere performance—faith (śraddhā), correct worship, and restraint. The theological claim is that the ultimate agent of purification is Keśava, while the vrata is the disciplined means of approach.